In the self-publishing community in particular, it’s common to hear about authors using beta readers prior to hiring editorial professionals like those found at Reedsy. Beta readers are typically existing fans of an author and are enthusiastic about getting early access to a work in exchange for sharing their feedback on it.
A new service has just opened that promises to streamline the process of managing feedback from betas: BetaBooks. Through a single interface, you can upload your manuscript, send out invitations to your beta readers, collect and organize their feedback, and keep your work private and secure.
Even though the service is fairly new, it has a professional look and feel, and it already offers significant functionality. Here’s how it works:
- Because the service operates in the cloud, you don’t have to juggle files, send attachments, or worry about file compatibility among your betas. All reading and feedback happens in a single, cohesive environment. Betas join your project via private email invites you send from within the site.
- Beta readers must create an account with BetaBooks and be online in order to read your work. However, readers can print out your chapters.
- You can track betas’ feedback chapter by chapter and version by version, so you remain clear on who’s read what. You can even see how far beta readers have gotten through your book.
- You can filter beta feedback based on reader, chapter, or character. Currently, feedback is limited to end-of-chapter comments.
While the service is still in beta, it is free for authors to use. (It will always be free for your beta readers to use.) You have to bring your own beta readers to the party; this isn’t a service that finds them for you.
Paul Kilpatrick, a co-founder of BetaBooks, says they now have about 300 authors using the service and are planning to have an official launch in September—but right now anyone who’s interested can sign up.
Bottom line: Interestingly, when we asked Kilpatrick about any kinks they’ve had to sort through, he told us, “When we started, about 80 percent of the people who found us thought we were a beta reader service, probably because that was the only beta-related business they had ever encountered. That meant that the people most likely to benefit—authors with lots of readers—were not interested until we explained what we actually were. And those most interested, authors with no readers, didn’t understand why we existed.” Here at Hot Sheet, we run into plenty of unpublished or unknown authors wondering how they find betas, so it will be interesting to see how much BetaBooks feels compelled to help in that regard. Already they offer a couple of ongoing initiatives to help their author-users gather betas.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
